


dirt

by plutosrose



Series: Whumptober 2020 [1]
Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Alternate Scene, Earth Rumble, Gen, Post-Red Lotus, Self-Worth Issues, alternate prompt 5, implied PTSD, whumptober2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-01
Updated: 2020-10-01
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:08:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26754847
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/plutosrose/pseuds/plutosrose
Summary: Asami tracks down Korra, who is in Ba Sing Se, and not in the South Pole like her letters claimed.
Relationships: Korra & Asami Sato
Series: Whumptober 2020 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1948822
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	dirt

**Author's Note:**

> for the prompt alt. 5 "stoic whumpees"

It was one thing to step into the Rumble ring and get her ass handed to her on a normal day. It was another thing to have her ass handed to her when she could see Asami in the audience.

At first, she hadn’t even been sure that she was actually there--every time she closed her eyes at night, she could see Zaheer standing in front of her as metallic poison spread throughout her body--she wasn’t exactly getting a lot of sleep.

But no, she had to be there, she was talking and laughing with the man that was sitting next to her. 

Her eyes lingered on Asami for a few seconds before another rock caught her in the gut. 

She grunted as she stumbled and fell face-first into the dirt. Her muscles were threatening to give out on her, and she knew she wasn’t going to be able to stand right away, let alone bend or dodge anything that her opponent threw at her.

Not that she’d been dodging before--mostly she’d just been taking each and every one of their boulders straight to the stomach. 

So instead, she laid there in the dirt, and she waited for the match to be declared over. 

-

Once she was able to haul herself to her feet, she swore loudly and dragged herself over to the bleachers where the man who ran the fight (lately, if there was one thing that her brain absolutely couldn’t do, it was keep track of people’s names), threw a wad of cash in her lap and walked off. 

“So...is this what you do now?”

Asami’s voice made her grit her teeth. “Yeah,” Korra grunted. “This is what I do now.”

She quirked a perfectly plucked eyebrow.A small part of Korra had always admired how utterly put together Asami was, but now it made anger bubble just under the surface of her skin. “So...the Avatar gets paid to get beaten up at Rumble?”

“Pretty much,” Korra sighed. 

“Do you want to tell me what’s going on with you?” Asami folded her arms across her chest. “Or do you expect me to believe that you got just got here from the South Pole or something?” 

Korra shrugged. “I don’t expect you to believe anything or do anything. I was doing fine before you showed up, so you can go home, Asami.” 

Asami’s face fell. “At least let me help patch you up.” 

“I can do that myself,” Korra grunted. “And it’s not that bad.”

She’d gotten in the habit of taping her knuckles and her knees before a fight, and wasn’t phased by a few bruises or a little bit of split skin. “I’ve had worse, trust me,” she added.

The metallic poison that had set her veins on fire came to mind, but she just shrugged instead. Asami, for her part, looked as though she was waiting for her to elaborate. She’d be disappointed, Korra thought.

“I just want to help.”

Korra felt her anger flare dangerously in a way that it hadn’t in months--usually she was too exhausted to feel any other emotion. “Yeah, well, you can save your energy.” 

Because where had that gotten any of them? She’d put them in danger over and over again, and now, she was broken, and she didn’t know how to get fixed.

“I can walk you home?” Asami offered. 

-

When she was really little, her parents had visited Ba Sing Se as part of a Water Tribe delegation to the Earth Kingdom. When they’d returned, she’d reveled in the new green-and-yellow outfit that she’d received, along with the stuffed bear toy. 

Even three years ago, the capital had been a beautiful and bustling place. The upper ring in particular had been full of lush gardens and tiny luxury shops. 

Now?

Most of it was gone. 

Many of the homes in the upper ring had been abandoned. Most of them had been boarded up, but had human-sized holes in them, a reminder of the near constant looting that had taken place after the Earth Queen’s death. 

Even the palace, which Korra passed every time she left the inn where she was staying, hadn’t escaped unharmed. Even now, years later, you could still see the occasional person sneaking into the palace. Frankly, she was surprised that at this point there could be anything left. 

The inn--truthfully, it had once been someone’s house, but Korra wasn’t in the habit of asking too many questions--had discolored walls, smelled too strongly of some sort of cleaning solution, and sometimes shook in the middle of the night.

But they never asked her who she was and didn’t even seem to care, so for now, it was home.

She unlocked the door to her room and nodded for Asami to follow her, sinking down in a chair in the corner.

Asami watched her closely as her muscles visibly relaxed. It felt nice to be sitting there in silence, but it was obvious from the expression on Asami’s face that she was less comfortable with it than Korra was. 

“Can I?” Asami asked, gesturing to the bandages that were wrapped around her shoulder. 

Korra shrugged and leaned back in the chair as Asami knelt down beside her. 

“You didn’t have to come,” Korra murmured as Asami unwrapped a bandage around her shoulder. 

“Yeah, I kind of did,” Asami muttered under her breath as she pulled the bandage loose. “Was this your plan then? Keep sending letters and pretending that you were still in the South Pole?” 

“It doesn’t matter,” Korra grunted, pulling her arm away from Asami. 

“Why doesn’t it matter? We’re friends, aren’t we, Korra?” 

Korra cradled her head in her hands.She didn’t need a mirror in her room at the inn to know what she looked like. 

“Because I can’t be the Avatar. Not anymore.”

Asami pursed her lips. “Nobody’s expecting you to be perfectly fine after what happened with Zaheer, not even now.”

Korra looked up and narrowed her eyes at her. “That’s a fucking lie,” she huffed.   
“Is it?”

The way that Asami looked at her, quietly challenging her, made her clench her hands. “It is.”

“Do you think that we only care about you because you’re the Avatar?”

The question is so simple and cutting that Korra has to hang her head to avoid looking directly at Asami. 

“I don’t know. I don’t think it matters now.”

“I think it matters a lot.We’re always thinking of you.”

Asami was quiet for a moment as she stared at the scars on Korra’s arm. “Those from fights?”

Korra nodded. “It’s fine. They’ll be gone in a couple of days.” Katara had trained her well, but lately, healing had taken her more and more effort to do properly. “How did you find me, anyway?”

Asami shrugged and took a step back, leaning against the wall closest to her. “I have a lot of resources at my disposal.” 

The silence that fell between them made Korra’s stomach twist itself into knots. She found herself wondering if Asami would continue to press her for answers, and couldn’t help but feel disappointed when she simply allowed the silence to continue. 

Maybe Asami could endure it, but she couldn’t. Not for more than a few seconds. 

“Will you tell Mako and Bolin where I am?” Korra asked in a small voice.

Asami placed her hand on her shoulder, and Korra was able to breathe easy for a moment.

“No, not unless you want me to. But, I need you to be honest with me. About where you are and what’s going on with you. Is that something that you can do?” 

The words ‘for me’ seemed to hang in the air. Asami was different, Korra knew that to be true in her gut. Asami was the one who had tended to her right after they’d cleaned up the Red Lotus. She was a rock of kindness and support. The only thing that was slightly unbelievable here was that she’d want to stick around and keep being kind and supportive.

“Fine,” Korra murmured, nodding slightly. “I can do that.” 

“I’m heading out tomorrow morning, but...I can stay tonight if you want?” Asami looked at her curiously, and Korra wasn’t sure if she looked more concerned or hopeful.

“Yeah, I mean...that’s fine.” Korra shrugged. 

That night, when Asami curled up beside her in the small bed, it was the first night in many that she did not dream of poison.


End file.
